The National Training Awards

Monday 22nd October 2007

An innovative Staffordshire Housing Association has been recognised and rewarded for its investment in staff training and development.

Choices Housing Association, who provide quality community based homes with 24 hour care and support to adults with learning disabilities has a training and development programme to be proud of.

Employing 245 employees throughout Staffordshire they provide ongoing training events throughout the year to develop a skilled, diverse and flexible workforce who contribute to higher levels of job satisfaction, give greater support to service users and help Choices deliver quality services.

In order to achieve this, Iin 2004 they trained all their Registered Managers as trainers which gave them the skills and knowledge to deliver quality training to Choices employees. This innovative approach has earned them a place in the finals of the National Training Awards 2007.

Sally Pritchard, Chief Executive said: "Choices operate within a changing care sector environment, with an increased demand for better value from commissioners and higher service user expectations to deliver quality services.

However, we also acknowledge that there is great competition within the market place for good quality people and we have to offer that bit extra to be an attractive proposition."

An employee satisfaction survey in 2004 identified lots of issues relating to morale, motivation, job satisfaction, training, recognition and perception of managers. Our training and development strategy has helped to turn this around and enhanced their skills and knowledge and given them confidence in the workplace which has had a positive effect on the delivery of care to the service users.

Our employee satisfaction results now tell us that 99% are happy with their personal development; 94% enjoy job satisfaction, 97% say Choices is a good place to work. "You can't get much better than that!" said Gill Juggins, Director of Human Resources

Nigel Downs, Director of Housing Services commented:
"Our Registered Managers are qualified to deliver Management of Actual and Potential Aggression (MAPA), all homes are risk assessed and employees are given the level of MAPA training based on the risk assessment results. This training has proved very successful as we have reduced the number of aggressive incidents within the homes".

Choices have accredited training status with the British Institute of Learning Disabilities and are able to deliver the Learning Disability Award to a high standard to other organisations. If you want details on how we can offer your organisation placed on our quality training programmes, then contact Gill Juggins, Director of Human Resources on 01782 254000.

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